The subject matter disclosed herein relates to a turbine engine with a spacer.
In power plants, one of the factors attributed to an increase in combined cycle (CC) efficiency is the increase in inlet steam temperature. That is, a temperature increase by around 50 deg F. can lead to a considerable increase in the CC power plant efficiency. Studies have shown, however, that these increased temperatures can affect the rotor life. This is especially true if the temperatures in question are already in the materials limiting margin.
This problem has been addressed by the use of more temperature resistant rotor materials, which is a costly solution. Alternatively, a conventional cooling scheme has been previously proposed in which the few initial stages of the rotor are cooled using relatively cool steam supplied from an external source and, thus, avoiding the need to replace the entire rotor with costlier material. This cooling option can be employed for the initial few stages through which the main steam temperature drops considerably enough to be withstood by lower temperature resistant material. It is, however, relatively costly to install and complicated to design and operate.